Curse This Town!
by Better a Freak Than A Fake
Summary: Chapters 1 to half of 6 co-authored with Sacredheart99. By the time of the series, all of the characters (even Flaky) have gotten somewhat used to their live, die, repeat lifestyle, but how must it have been at the very beginning? Follow us through the Tree Friends' struggle to adapt to their newly cursed town. Rated T for violence and gore (Aka it's HTF).
1. Fur-st Time For Everything

**Hello Happy Tree Fans, welcome to my first story with a new co-author by the penname of Sacredheart99. These chapters will be shorter than my other stories because of our schedule issues but the chapters will hopefully still be good quality wise but that's yours to judge. Also, the next chapter might be a while because Sacred will be gone for the next two weeks.**

 **Disclaimer: We do not own Happy Tree Friends or any of the characters... well, besides Cheep I guess but you'll see. Anyways, all rights go to Mondo Media.**

No one had reason to suspect anything. It was an ordinary day in an ordinary small town as an ordinary porcupine walked over to her ordinary best friend's house to find an ordinary way to fill the day. This ordinary porcupine's name was Flaky, and she was, by anybody's standards, normal. She had scarlet fur and quills and lived by the edge of town, coming in to get groceries and things like that. Today of coarse was a normal day for them, nothing out of the ordinary happened and that was the way they liked it.

Arriving at her destination, she gave three good raps on the door before her. "Cuddles, are you home?" she called, Pac-man eyes never straying from the wood finish as she waiting for her best friend. After all, what was there to worry about?

"Hang on, I'll just be a second!" a voice called out. The door opened not a few minutes later, a yellow rabbit standing there. He seemingly was normal, yellow fur, pink cheeks and a fluffy tail. He was practically the word normal, by the town's standards at least. "Oh, hey Flaky. What's up?" he asked her.

"I was wondering if we could hang out today" she replied. He bit his lip, then she noticed he was holding his hand behind his back protectively. "Cuddles... is something wrong?"

"No, why do you ask?" he asked, not fooling the porcupine.

She reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling it into view. "Oh my god..." she said in horror, gazing at the bandaged arm. "What happened?" she asked demandingly.

"It's nothing. I was cleaning out my mouse's cage and he wasn't very happy about it." Cuddles explained, bashful at being shown up by the rodent.

The porcupine instantly knew something was up. Cuddles' mouse never did things like this; it was usually such a peaceful creature. "I'm not buying this," she said, letting go of his arm "that rodent would never hurt anybody, let alone you. What's going on?"

"Look, Flaky, I'm telling the truth." Cuddles adjusted the bandages on his arm showing MANY small bites and scratches. "I'm just as surprised as you are; I don't know what's gotten into him."

Flaky began to think, and had an idea. "We could always go ask Giggles if her cat's acting the same way," she suggested.

Cuddles flushed "Y-yeah, let's go ask her..."

"Ok, Romeo, let's go" she said, grabbing his good arm and dragging him off in the direction of the chipmunk's house.

* * *

They got to Giggles' house and Flaky knocked on the door sending a glance over at Cuddles' bandaged arm. There was no answer though, they figured she was at Petunia's or something and were about to leave was Cuddles saw something red in the backyard.

"Hey isn't that... that... oh my god! Giggles!" Cuddles cried, jumping the fence and running over to his girlfriend's mutilated corpse, bites and scratches all over her body. She was barely recognizable except for the red bow on her head, almost blending in with the rest of her bloody body.

"What happened to her?" the porcupine asked the rabbit.

He looked to her with tears in his eyes, ears back "She... she's dead... I never... I never even got to kiss her..." Flaky hesitated but went over the fence only to freeze in her own shock and grief at the sight of the body. Meanwhile, Cuddles lip only trembled as he fell to his knees in front of his girlfriends' corpse, crying heavily into his paws with no signs of stopping anytime soon.

"How did this happen?" Flaky asked, trying not to unhave her lunch as she stared in shock at her dead friend's body.

Cuddles raised his head, still sobbing uncontrollably "I... I don't know... but whoever did this will... pay?" he said in a shaky voice, looking over to Giggles' doorstep where a honey colored cat slept, fur soaked in deep red liquid.

Flaky followed his fgaze seeing the blood soaked cat as well, her eyes darkening when she did. "You don't think Mittens could have done this?"

The rabbit seemed hysteric "O-of course not... that's impossible... that cat is so tame... but that's HER blood on the cat's paws! Get it DNA tested, I'm positive it is! It's the most likely since she's been mauled to death!" he cried.

Flaky just watched him having no idea what to even say much less do, she has no experience in this kind of thing and was having a hard time somehow staying out of a mental break down herself. Though not as close as her and Cuddles, Giggles was always a great friend and always nice to everyone but now she's… she's… her thoughts refused to form the word.

"C'mon, do you think we should go check on everybody else? What about Toothy? He has a tortoise right?"

Cuddles stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes "T-Toothy? Yeah... let's go see him. I just hope he's okay. What damage could a tortoise do?"

* * *

They came to the purple beaver's house and Flaky knocked on the door. No answer. They turned to leave, but a loud bloodcurdling scream echoed from Toothy's backyard. The duo both looked at each other, gulped and ran to the fence, Cuddles screaming upon seeing what was left of the purple beaver. "Why is this happening?!" Cuddles wailed, crying even harder than before. First his girlfriend, now his best friend besides the girl next to him. What? Is she next? Was he gonna lose everyone he cared about in less than an hour.

The porcupine stifled tears "Maybe we should just go home, stay there and be safe."

Cuddles' eyes were red and his nose was dripping "Safe?! SAFE?!" he yelled, fists balled. She stepped back as he advanced, looking angrier than she had ever seen him. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember a time when he was EVER angry. Until now. "Don't you see it Flaky? Isn't it clear to you?" he asked, teeth gritted.

She held her ground "Isn't WHAT clear? What are you going on about?" He squeezed his eyes shut, fell to his knees and let out a wail, crying uncontrollably. She didn't know what to do anymore. For the first time ever, she was really, truly scared.

Flaky closed her own eyes tightly. What could he be talking about, nothing was clear but that two of their friends were now DEAD… and… and… She peels open her eyes realizing when she did that she started crying herself but even through the blur of tears, she saw what she forgot about through the stress and grief, the bandages around his arm "thanks" to his usually ever loyal pet mouse. Then she realized what he meant, they wouldn't be safe at home, they might not be safe anywhere.

A morbid thought floated into her mind, and she spoke out loud without thinking. "How long until... until WE die?" she said, voice beginning to crack.

He opened his eyes and stood up, all cried out "To be honest, it feels as if we already have" he said in a monotonous voice, sounding unlike the Cuddles she knew.

Flaky tried to swallow a lump of cotton attempting to wipe away more tears to at least try to seem convincing. "Cuddles, don't say that. We'll get through this."

"How?" Cuddles asked looking her directly in the eye and pointed to Toothy's corpse. "You, look at that and tell me we're going to be okay."

"I... I can't" she admitted sadly, looking the red-eyed rabbit in the face.

"Exactly!" He suddenly shouted. "Because we're clearly NOT gonna be okay!"

"D-don't shout at me, I'm freaking out too... w-what if we go and check if-"

"NO!" Cuddles said "I don't wanna see any more of my friends... they're always dead when we turn up anyway, what if... what if we're the ones with the killing mojo?"

She paled at the thought. "Y-you're just being paranoid. So, we can't go home, we can't check on anyone. Are we just supposed to stay here by his corpse until we die, too?"

Cuddles looked back to his best friend's dead body and then back to Flaky "How about I get the shovel from the shed over there and we... we..." the rabbit never thought he'd have to admit his best friend, besides Flaky, was dead.

"Bury him? I'll go get some flowers," the porcupine said, running off to get flowers from the beaver's garden. As she reached for a third rose she scratched her hand on a thorn, fell back and just avoided cracking her head on a protruding stone. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Flaky! Are you okay?" Cuddles asked, rushing over relieved to find her okay besides some cuts on her hand. He certainly didn't want to lose her, too.

The porcupine began to wonder that herself. "I'm ok, I just went to grab a rose, cut my hand and fell. I was lucky, that stone there could have k-"

"DON'T YOU SAY IT!" Cuddles yelled, stomping his foot down harder than he meant to. He heart a snap and felt red hot searing pain in his leg. Flaky screamed.

Cuddles screamed as well in pain, then horror when he saw the bone sticking out. "Oh god! I'll call the ambulance! Just stay CALM!" Flak screeched, running to the door and yanking it open.

Cuddles began to hyperventilate, the red blood pooling at around his broken leg. _'Are we just supposed to stay here by his corpse until we die too?'_

Flaky dialed the hospital as fast as the stupid rotary dial will let her and to make matters worse. It felt like forever until Nurse Petunia picked up the phone and compared to her, Flaky and Cuddles were the picture of serenity. "Hello? Oh Flaky, I'm so busy with all these accidents right now. I hate to disapoint you but all the ambulances have either broken down or are already being used to collect other Tree Friends for similar 'accidents'... I'm sorry, but we'll try and get someone out to see you... if we survive that long..." the skunk said in an eerily sad voice Flaky had never heard before. The line went dead HOPEFULLY because she had to be pulled away to help deal with the mass chaos and not the alternative.

Flaky was absolutely petrified by what she heard. Though she called him paranoid, part of her must have actually believed they were the ones with the killing mojo because it hadn't even crossed her mind what might be going on in other parts of town.

She tried to figure out what to do. She could try to get him to the hospital herself but by the sounds of things from the line, it wouldn't do any good they'll barely have any resources and she doesn't know much about open fractures but she knows they require extensive surgery. Most likely, her best friend's gonna die here on Toothy's lawn from infection or blood loss and there won't be anything she could do about it. And for what? Stomping his foot?

She put down the phone and ran back outside to see Cuddles being pecked at by birds. She shooed them away, checked the rabbit's pulse and felt her blood run cold. There was no pulse. He stared widely up at the sky, wounds opened up all over him by the birds, mouth frozen in a silent scream. The blood pooled under him and she felt herself tear up.

This time, she finally just opening let them fall dropping down to her knees on the blood soaked grass. "No! No! You can't leave me alone like this!" His corpse yielded no reply or sign of life, and she felt empty, a sense of nothing was right. Something was going on. She picked herself up off the grass, clutching her forearms tightly and ran back to her house tears streaming off her face.

* * *

She threw herself onto her bed and cried harder than she ever had before. She opened her eyes and saw her pet chick, staring her in the eyes. "Cheep? NO! First it was Mittens, then Toothy's tortoise and now you! No! You're going!" She said, grabbing the tiny yellow chick and opening the window, throwing the creature outside onto the road where it was run over by a passing car.

She felt sick to her stomach and lied back on her bed, hoping to sleep peacefully but now, would that ever be possible?

She laid there on her stomach like always for obvious reasons but just glared at her pillow as if it's its fault everything suddenly went to hell. From what Petunia said, she wondered if they'll be anyone left in the morning.

 **And that is why Flaky is afraid of chicks. It's all Cheep's fault. This is the last we will see of Cheep but not the last we'll hear of him so don't forget. Please review, constructive criticism is not only accepted but greatly appreciated and even preferred so give us your honest opinions.**


	2. Achille's Heal

**And we are finally back, sorry about that. Future chapters shouldn't take quite as long as this one did for the reason I warned of last chapter. Now, instead of going on to the second day of the curse, we're going back to the beginning but following another character. There's going to be at least one more time after this which will be a surprise which it is but if there's any character (excluding Lammy, Mr. Pickels, and Truffles) that you'd like to see their first day of the curse, review or pm me or Sacredheart99 and we might write it, just know that once we move on to the second day, we will not return to the first.**

 **This chapter will have some cuss words in this chapter but I assume anyone reading this is old enough to hear those words, if not, then you have bigger problems.**

Many hours earlier, Petunia, wearing her nurse's uniform, headed to work. Blissfully ignorant, to what was about to go down. When she got to the hospital, she did notice that Dr. Lumpy was late to work once again but that was common so she didn't think too much of it, though she did give a quite whisper to herself. "At least it's usually so quite here." She was sure that, like always, it would be easy holding down the fort until Dr. Lumpy decides to actually show his face.

She looked around from her position at the front desk, nobody in the hospital just yet. Yet... the word seemed important, but she didn't know how. She shrugged it off and began to doodle on the blank side of a hospital form, the kind you fill out while you're in the waiting room. She was bored out of her mind. Was anybody going to show their faces?

It wasn't long until her complaint was "rectified" by the ringing of the hospital phone which she immediately answered, letting it dangle on her number. "Happy Tree Hospital, how may I help you?"

A male voice spoke up, sounding oddly familiar. "C-can you get an ambulance out to my place please?"

"Sure? But I'll need you name and address.." she said.

She could hear him sigh on the other end of the line "Fine but hurry. I really need some medical attention."

She raised a brow "What kind of attention? What happened exactly?"

The line went silent for a moment "My... my arms. They're... gone."

"We'll have an ambulance there as soon as possible, who is this?"

"Handy, 2182 Acorn Rd." the man on the phone answered.

Though she felt guilty about it, Petunia had to suppress a laugh. _'Guess he's not very handy anymore.'_ She thought, immediately kicking herself for doing so. "An ambulance will be there straight away. Just stay calm." She instructed, wondering how he seemed to be, all things considered.

Then the line went silent. She was about to panic when she realized he had just hung up, breathing a sigh of relief. The phone beside her began to wring the very moment she placed it back down. "Hello?" she asked, knowing it'd be another 'accident'. However, she growled a bit when she heard an unmistakable deep voice on the other line. "This better be an actual emergency, Disco Bear," she warned, it was not uncommon for him to call the hospital when she or Giggles were working just to flirt.

"Oh come on baby, you gotta be bored out your pretty little mind at that boring old hospital".

"Yes, but not bored enough to sit through ANOTHER non-emergency phone-call from the town stalker" she said, ready to put the phone back in the cradle.

"Oh, and who might that be baby?" he asked. She fumed. Today was not the day to mess with her.

"Goodbye, Disco Bear, this line needs to be kept open for actual emergencies." Petunia growled and was about to hang up when she heard.

"No! Wait! There is an emergency! I need an ambulance!"

She sighed "Alright then, care to explain?"

"The string for one of my disco balls suddenly snapped and it came crashing down on me. There's broken glass everywhere and I'm using a lot of blood."

She sighed. "Fine, but this is your last chance. This better not be faked just to talk to me."

"It's not! I swear! Just hurry! 10187 Pine Way!"

"Fine then, an ambulance is on its way" she said, putting the phone down without another word. She had just put it down when it began to ring again, this time, no voice could be heard. "Hello? Who is this?"

A harsh voice came at last "...Petunia! We need an ambulance, Cub was in his crib just playing around, and I went out to get the matches to light my pipe and when I came back... the ceiling fan had come crashing down on him!"

 _'What is going on?!'_ Petunia's thoughts screamed. "Alright, try to keep calm; we'll have an ambulance there right your son conscious?"

"I think so, let me check" he said, an audible childlike screaming sounding "Yes, but I don't think his arms are supposed to bend that way".

She honestly felt bad for Pop; stuff like this never happened. Why were all these accidents happening all on the same day? "Okay, this may sound impossible but try to find anyway to calm him down some until we get there."

She waited until he breathed a sigh "F-fine, but hurry! I don't wanna lose my son as well." She wanted to ask, but restrained herself. That was a whole other kettle of fish.

"We will. I promise we won't let your son die. What's your address?"

"5285 Oak Ct."

"Alright, an ambulance is on its way" she said, hanging up. The phone remained quiet for some time "Funny, I could barely put it down without it ringing... why is it so quiet? It's... too quiet." She shivered, a cold wind rushing in from an open window. She laughed off her fear and went and shut it, looking out onto the street. She screamed.

Mangled bodies, car crashes, horrible accidents everywhere. "How did all this happen? I wasn't prepared for this! Where the fuck is Dr. Lumpy!" Petunia shouted either out loud or in her head. She wasn't sure, nor did she really care. She did the only thing she knows to do, knowing she had to do something. She took a large pile of triage tags having the sickening feeling that they'll be way too many black tags and almost no greens.

She barely had time to react before a car crashed through the wall, missing her by a hair's breadth. It was Mole. Her heart was racing and thumping against her ribs, what was going on? She rushed to the car, only to find Mole dead. Somehow she knew this was going to happen. She tried not to cry as she attached a black triage tag and made her way outside, hoping she won't be the next victim.

* * *

The once beautiful and peaceful Tree Land was now a mess of mangled bodies, 'accidental' deaths and car crashes. She felt sad, was anybody alive at this point besides her? She doubted it. She walked over to an unidentifiable mangled body and attached a black tag, fighting the urge to throw up.

Several black tags later though, she heard a moan and rushed over with a sliver of hope. Moans meant life, agony and suffering but life, and she might actually be able to help save that life.

"Nutty? What the..." she trailed off, seeing his tail caught under a slab of fallen concrete. Other than his tail, a broken rib and torn fur he was perfectly fine. He turned his head and smiled widely

"P-Petunia! Thank god you're here! I ran out of candy and I went to the candy store to get some more, but..." he blurted out, gesturing to his broken rib and caught tail.

She rolled her eyes "I know, and why did they put the candy store right near the hospital?" He shrugged. Not seeing anyone else alive, she decided to go against the plan and just help who she can until something else comes up, she did notice a lot of blood coming from his tail. First she needs to get the concrete off, though.

She noticed a piece of plywood nearby and wedged it under the concrete, pushing down on one end and lifting up the concrete only partially "Nutty! Get the fuck outta there! My arms are killing me!" she shouted to the green squirrel.

Certainly not wanting the concrete back on his tail, Nutty scurried out from under it just in time, despite his injures. "Why were you even out on a day like this Nutty?" the indigo skunk asked, adjusting her nurse hat.

Nutty groaned and got to his feet, a little shaky "I had a weird craving for candy the moment I woke up, and FYI, I had no idea that the town was in total chaos UNTIL I got outside thank you".

She sighed. "At least someone's alive."

His eyes widened "Whatdaya mean... someone? Aren't the others ok?"

Petunia sighed sadly examining his tail to try to take her mind off it, paying no mind to all the blood that got on her paws doing so. "Never mind what I said."

"Ya seem upset, is something wrong?" he asked her, trying not to wince as she touched a sore spot "Did I come at a bad time?"

"You'll see on the way to the hospital, this does look really bad."

Nutty furrowed his brow "A-am I gonna need surgery? I mean, I don't normally like candy, but now... I've got a real sweet tooth!"

She couldn't help but feel as if something was going on. "I don't think in your in dire need of surgery, Nutty, but I will need to stitch this up".

He breathed a sigh, "You guys got any lollipops at the hospital?"

Petunia nodded, "I can get you one as soon as we get there."

* * *

At the hospital Petunia had sat Nutty on the cot, he had taken the whole bowl of complimentary treats and was eating piece by piece. She shouldn't have left him along for ten minutes, and she knew the money to buy more lollipops was coming out of her paycheck. Everything often did. "Nutty?! Ugh, those are for EVERYONE, not just for you."

He looked up, mouth full of candy. "I thought they were complimentary, and I'm really hungry for candy!" She face-palmed. As frustrating as it was, part of her was kind of impressed. She did take the rest of the bowl which at least had a few pieces left in it away though.

WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO.

She turned to see about six ambulances arrive in the parking lot, one of them skid and tumble then catch fire. She sucked in a breath and winced "Ooh, that's gotta hurt". She didn't need to turn to see Nutty possessing the candy bowel once again, and growled "Nutty, put that down". She was a bit surprised that he listened until she saw the bowl was now completely empty.

* * *

The doors burst open and patients were rushed in, the dead ones being zipped up in body bags, living ones being tended too. She heard a groan and recognized the voice "Ouch! I already know they're not growing back, so don't sugar coat the truth, Doc". An orange beaver sat on one of the cots, arms bandaged up. He wore an outfit akin to a construction worker.

Petunia made her way into the room asking the doctor, "What exactly happened to him?"

"I don't know. He's refusing to answer."

Handy only scowled at that and corrected, "I'm not refusing to answer. I told you, I have no idea what happened to my hands. I just woke up and they were gone."

"That seems really unlikely. Are you sure they just upped and disappeared? Are you sure you didn't lose them a while ago and just forget about them?" Petunia asked, folding her arms.

Handy growled "I swear, I'm a carpenter, I think I'd know something like that like the back of my - oh never mind" I doubt I could just forget losing my hands, though. I went to bed last night, I had hands. I woke up, they were gone."

"Petunia, can you fetch some disinfectant and some bandages? The patient is quite irritable and I'd rather just get this over and done with," the doctor ushered, making Handy frown.

"Hey, I'm sitting right here. Don't pretend I'm not".

Petunia did as told, ignoring Handy's complaints and that they were already cleanly bandaged. She grabbed the disinfectant and stared at it for a while, feeling as if these happenings were tied to it. She shrugged it off and handed the bottle to the doctor, looking around the hospital. It had never been this busy before.

Images from the scene, outside flashed through her mind but she shook her head, trying to banish them, carefully unwrapping Handy's nubs knowing that's where that's going. Why was all this happening now? She wondered. Why now? Was the town jinxed? She had to know what was going on, but how, when she was stuck at the hospital all day and most likely, all night.

"What's going to happen to my career now?" Handy whispered sadly, eyes tearing up "What's a carpenter with no hands?"

Petunia looked over him with a sense of pity. "I think there are other ways you could find and learn how to. If you really love to, there's no reason to lose hope." Even as she said it, the irony was not lost on her but she hoped it was enough on him.

"I guess so, but it's gonna be hard to work with just... nubs" he joked sadly, his nubs bandaged up.

"Don't worry, it's ok. Just be glad nothing else happened to you. Real crazy sh- erm... it's just been really weird around here" she corrected herself, as Lumpy had warned her several times about her potty-mouth, not like he didn't have the biggest one.

"What do you mean?" Handy asked, having been too distracted by his disappearing hands to notice all the disaster.

She gestured to the window by the cot, and he wondered how he had not noticed it before. Cars had piled up outside, mangled unidentifiable bodies lay strewn as far as the eye could see. He felt sick to his stomach yet did not puke, it almost tormented him. "You're speechless..." she stated, looking out the window one last time before pulling the blind down.

"I just can't believe this... of all days..." the beaver muttered to himself.

"What do you mean 'of all days'?"

He looked at his feet sadly. "I was working on a really important project, but I got tired half way through it and decided to go to bed. It was around midnight I think, and when I woke up..." he wiggled his nubs to emphasize his point.

"That really did have to be the worst timing." Petunia sighed feeling sorry for the now handless beaver.

"I know, things like this never happened BEFORE today... but why today? And why are the most injured still alive? It's as if something is... toying with us..." he said, thinking.

She thought "Things do seem that way now that I think about it..."

"Well, whatever it is, must be the worst sadist," Handy huffed, "crossing" his nubs as best he can.

"Petunia! Out of candy!" Nutty called out from his cot.

She growled under her breath "Just a moment please Handy," Petunia sighed and went over to Nutty's room. "Nutty, we don't have any more candy, you ate it all."

His eye twitched, and she noticed that one of his otherwise normal eyes (besides the different colors) was lazy "WHAT?! You're kidding me! T-there has to be more!"

"Nutty there ISN'T any more, I'm not lying." The indigo skunk said.

Handy frowned. He used to know that squirrel, he was normal, at least he WAS, now... Handy felt as if it were a whole new Tree Friend. "Then get more!" Nutty shouted.

"Have you not been paying attention? I don't have time to go buy candy." Petunia said, taking great amounts of restraint to not yell at him.

"Fine! If you're not gonna be helpful, I'm gonna get some!" Nutty announced, jumping from the cot and racing to the window, leaping out.

Handy tried to grab him, but remembered his lack of arms and grumbled to himself, hearing a loud SPLAT-CRUNCH from at least one story down.

Petunia screamed upon seeing his mangled, broken body on the pavement below "Oh my god! He's... he's dead." She paled.

"What? You can't be serious?" Handy asked, getting up with some struggle not used to doing anything without hands but he had got up and made his way over to the window by Petunia.

"L-look down..." she muttered, tears filling her eyes. She had no real connection to Nutty, but still felt sad as he was now dead.

He did as she instructed and grimaced "Oh gross," he muttered.

She scowled at him "GROSS? He's flipping dead!" she spat.

"I know, but look at that..." he said, pointing with his nubs to Nutty's corpse "... and tell me that it isn't gross."

"Well, yes, it is gross but that's a cold way of putting it."

Handy sighed to himself "So if I'm ok, can I go home now?"

She thought of what might happen on his way home. _'Let's face it;'_ she told herself, _'What COULDN'T go wrong? All these accidents... for all she knew a power-line might snap out of nowhere and fall on him, killing him.'_

She couldn't stand to see anybody in agony, hell, why did she even take the job of nurse? Because Lumpy blackmailed her, that's why. "I...I need to check you over one more time, just to make sure..." she lied. She didn't want to be alone, not at a time like this.

Handy sighed and went back to his bed. "Alright, maybe you could figure out what happened to them."

She sat down beside him "I don't know what happened, I honestly can't explain it. It's like we're jinxed..."

"Or cursed" Handy added with a dark tone, earning a strange look from Petunia.

"That's crazy." Suddenly, the phone rang.

"At least that means someone's alive," Handy said, as she went over and answered.

She held the phone to her ear "Hello? Oh Flaky, I'm so busy with all these accidents right now. I hate to disappoint you but the ambulances have either broken down or are already being used to collect other Tree Friends for similar 'accidents'... I'm sorry, but we'll try and get someone out to see you... if we survive that long..."

Then the ceiling fan above her fell. She didn't even have time to scream as the still spinning fan decapitated her.


	3. Exact Opposites

_**IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!**_ **This is obviously true for all chapter but especially important to know for this one. This story is set in the 1950s so any for any reference to amounts of money is based on the US inflation rates for that time, not the modern day so it's more than it sounds like.**

 **Now that's out of the way, we do not own Happy Tree Friends.**

Two green raccoon brothers sat outside the movie theater, watching the patrons go in and out, hoping to catch one unawares to pick their pockets. One was named Lifty and the other, Shifty. Shifty was arguably older and wore a tan fedora, whilst Lifty didn't. So far that day they had picked five bucks and a bent penny, a good haul for them.

"Shifty," Lifty began "Do you think we'll ever be rich enough to live in a mansion? Mama always said that... and I always listened."

Shifty looked at his brother with a small smile, "Of course we will, Lifty. We just need to keep working." Though he himself didn't believe it in the slightest, he just hoped to get enough to not starve to death and maybe even have a place to sleep and he felt even the second was a big stretch but the last thing he wanted to do was crush his twin's dream.

Lifty smiled and looked around, seeing a Tree Friend drop a coin getting money out of their wallet. He nudged Shifty and they went to work. Shifty walked up to the Tree Friend, smiling charismatically whilst Lifty ducked behind and lifted the pocketed wallet from the back pocket. As per usual, another Tree Friend saw this and called them out.

"Thieves!"

"Oh crap, run!" Shifty hissed, darting past the Tree Friend with Lifty in tow.

They dove behind the dumpster and hid, waiting for the small 'mob' to pass. Once they had, they both breathed a sigh of relief. That was too close. Shifty's heart was beating fast while Lifty grinned widely at the stuffed wallet in his paws.

"Just look at this thing, Shifty," Lifty said, even through his excitement, still managing to be quiet to keep from blowing their cover. "How much do you think is in here?"

"I-I'm not sure, but there's only one way to find out!" Shifty said as he grabbed the wallet and opened it, revealing several hundred dollars and a few coins. This has been their best haul ever. Lifty honestly felt like crying "I can't believe how much is in this thing! We're gonna be rich! We can get a mansion now! I can't believe it Shifty! We're-"

"There they are!" a Tree Friend yelled to the group, turning them towards the dumpster.

"Not again..." Shifty winced, grabbing his brother's arm and running.

The brothers ran through many alleys, trying to lose them, but the group stayed in pursuit, until part of a fire escape above them broke off and came crashing down killing the most small mob and scaring the rest.

They both looked at each other in astonishment. "What the hell just happened?" Lifty asked, heart beating. The part that had fell was two inches from hitting them, literally TWO inches.

Shifty looked to his brother, sweat beading his forehead "I have no idea, but I think that was our lucky break. We found a wallet stuffed with bills and when we were 'caught', we escaped and they died..." Shifty trailed off, realizing how dark the situation was.

Lifty nodded sadly and held the wallet tightly "So what now?" he asked.

The older twin thought. "Well, this probably isn't exactly enough to get a mansion just yet, so we'd best get an apartment or something like that first, then save up. Sound good?"

Lifty nodded with a smile "Sure, I think an apartment building just opened up a couple of blocks down. Wanna race there?"

"You're on."

* * *

Despite all the running from the mob, neither one of them had trouble sprinting to said apartment building. It was Lifty who won though. They both walked in and came to the front desk, paying for the room and walking up with their keys.

When they opened the room, they found out why it had been discounted; blood stained the walls and carpet, a white outline of a body on the floor.

Lifty fought back bile "Oh shit... someone's... someone's DIED here!" he cried, feeling weak at the knees. The fire-escape slaughter was nothing compared to this.

Shifty was speechless as he stared at the scene. They hadn't asked many questions having figured anything was better than some alley as per their previous arrangement but now he was questioning that.

"Shifty, Shifty, please say something!" Lifty begged, needing something to make this seem at least a bit better.

"I... I..." he muttered "... I can't believe this. I'm marching right down there and demanding a different room. You with me?" Shifty asked, earning a nod from his younger brother.

* * *

They 'marched' downstairs and stood by the front desk, clearing their throats to get the attention of the desk woman. "May I help you gentlemen?" she asked casually.

"Do you have any other open rooms? You did NOT mention anything about someone being murdered in that room!" Shifty demanded, not bothering to try to be quiet, if it ruins the place's reputation then good, they deserve it.

The receptionist's cool expression disappeared "Shush! They weren't murdered, it was a freak accident! Security camera footage says so!" she said, turning on the small TV behind her. They watched intently as a Tree Friend walked into the room, put a vase onto a high shelf and walked away only for the shelf to fall and crush them, spattering blood everywhere.

"Oh..." Shifty said "... It was another accident."

"Another?" the receptionist questioned cautiously.

Lifty cursed. His brother just had to mention the fire escape. "Part of a fire exit had broken off and killed a bunch of people just barely missing us," Lifty quickly answered, completely omitting any incriminating information before Shifty had the opportunity to give some.

"That's not the point, though." Shifty cut in. "Murder or freak accident, someone died in there and that's information that we should have been given and we would like a different apartment."

The desk woman sighed and grabbed their room-key off them, exchanging it for another. "Here, this is for the room NEXT to the 'murder' room. It's the only one left..." she said, the phone ringing beside her. They both grumbled as she talked to the obviously angry Tree Friend on the other end of the line.

"Are you sure she's dead?" she whispered into the receiver "Maybe she's just knocked out."

They had been about to head up, but both their ears, intoned to catch the smallest noises, cause what the lady said and it gave Lifty pause, taking his brother's arm. "Let's at least ask this time once she's off the phone. I know it's the only one available but I at least don't want to go into another scene like that blind."

Shifty was about to object, but when he looked at his face, he saw something he hadn't seen in a long time. In the face of the boy who always saw the bright side, the boy who hoped for a mansion when they could almost never afford a loaf of bread, he saw real fear. "Alright, we'll ask her if anyone died in that apartment."

They both nodded and waited until finally the woman put down the phone, grabbing a form. They marched back over "I don't mean to pry, but... about the apartment we were just given… did someone... die?"

The lady shook her head clearly very stressed. "No, the previous owner moved out a few days ago, before all this shit."

Shifty nodded "I know, and thanks anyway for the apartment switch. We're just going to get groceries,"

The woman looked worried "I wouldn't go out on a day like this. You never know what might go wrong."

The older raccoon shrugged "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Well, anything."

"Anything could go wrong here too and we're starving," Shifty said and took Lifty out of the building letting her think he was speaking figuratively.

* * *

They walked outside and couldn't believe their eyes. Mangled bodies and car crashes littered the streets. Lifty covered his mouth, fighting back the urge to throw up. Shifty was dazed, but shook it off "C'mon, we gotta get food before we end up roadkill."

Lifty just nodded, not trusting his voice at all and followed him as close as he possibly can as if it could protect him.

They arrived at the supermarket, amazed that it hadn't burnt down or collapsed in on itself. Lifty nervously inched closer, making Shifty roll his eyes "Bro, it's just a supermarket. Let's go in and get what we need ok? Maybe in all this anarchy we can... pinch... a few items..." he grinned widely.

Lifty, however, was very hesitant on the idea looking around. "But, we've only ever pickpocketed before. What if something goes wrong?"

Shifty scoffed "Shoplifting is just like pickpocketing, only most of the items are much bigger and harder to disguise. Besides, we've got enough money to afford an eternity's worth of food anyway. Only nick what we absolutely cannot live without ok?" the older raccoon questioned.

Lifty sighed "Fine, let's go in."

When they headed in, There didn't appear to be anyone else, alive at least. It couldn't be easier. A strange eerie feeling washed over them both as they stepped over the bodies and chunks of rubble and fallen concrete, almost as if the shop was hissing vague warnings at them. 'Run away' it hissed 'Run before you die.' Of course, they didn't listen. Even Lifty, arguably the most sensible of the duo, ignored the warnings.

They came to the deli, seeing most of the produce still edible. "Score!" Shifty fist-pumped, jumping over the desk and filling his hat with the non-spoiled meat.

Lifty just watched for a few seconds before hopping the counter himself. Shifty just looked at him when he did, "I got it here. Go find something else."

Lifty bit his lip, looking out into the wreckage and admitted, "I'm scared to go alone."

Shifty was about to yell when he saw the look in Lifty's eyes, making him cave in "Ugh... fine, wait for me then."

Lifty smiled widely and waited until Shifty had gotten over the desk, walking with him to the snacks, crisps, and candy bars spread everywhere.

Lifty looked at the brightly colored packages curiously, but, despite the temptation, Shifty said to him, "We don't need this stuff. We're only getting what we absolutely can't live without."

The younger raccoon sighed "But... but..."

"No, I'm not repeating myself. Go grab those bread rolls over there by the bakery section, and some butter, just go be useful" Shifty said, grabbing a bottle of water from the broken fridge.

Lifty scowled. "Fine."

Lifty headed towards the bakery as told, but Shifty hadn't followed and it was obvious that the farther he got from his twin, the more anxious he became of ever leering danger playing a million questions on the many different ways he could end up dead. "I don't wanna die yet. I never got my mansion. I have to get my mansion first," he squeaked meekly.

He saw the rolls and reached for them, hearing the roof creak. He swore as he jumped back, shielding his face from the dust and rubble. "Lifty?! Are you ok? What the heck just happened?" he heard Shifty ask as he ran over, several items in his hat all piled up.

Lifty's heart thumped against his ribs "I... I almost... d-d..."

Shifty put the things down and covered Lifty's mouth "No! Don't say it! Just... let's get going. I grabbed the rest of the necessities anyway."

Lifty nodded, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible, but knowing in the back of his head that nowhere would be any safer. Shifty took his hand off Lifty's mouth and picking the items back up.

"Come on, we've always been fast. Maybe we can out run death." Shifty encouraged to his still very shaken brother. He moved the items to one hand and took Lifty's. "I promise I won't let go. I'll never leave you behind. We'll make it through this together."

Lifty smiled and for once, he felt hope. "Ok, let's just go back to the apartment then."

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

They ran back to the apartment building, as promised, never losing each other's hand. Narrowly avoiding various disasters on the way.

When they came back they breathed a sigh of relief, as the apartment complex was still standing. They let go of each other's hand the moment they stepped in, not wanting to raise questions, and walking upstairs. Lifty produced the key, letting them in.

"I tell you Lifty, today of all days, a miracle happened. We found a wallet loaded with dough and we didn't even have to use much of it!" Shifty said, putting the food in the pantry and grabbing out the rolls he had managed to snag, tossing one to Lifty.

Lifty caught the roll and despite that he was literally starving, looked it over for anything that might be stuck in it waiting to be accidently be eaten. He certainly could not deny the words, their life had finally started to take a turn for the better, but, at the same time, everything else had rapidly taken a turn for the worst. The emotions were extremely conflicting. Finally decided the roll was safe to eat, he gobbled the roll down.

"I guess so, and I'm glad that we survived at least. Things like this can't be happening out of coincidence... what do you think's causing all this?" the younger raccoon asked.

Shifty shrugged and ate the roll in his hand "Bad mojo I'm guessing, but still... maybe we should just wait this out. Remember that thunderstorm back in the alley? It's just like that... patience bro, patience."

Lifty sighed and felt a bad feeling in his gut "I hope so." Lifty hesitated, leaning against the wall. "What if it's isn't going to stop? It seems to be the end of the world."

"It's not the end of the world Lifty, just a... really bad day, ok? Let's just call it that, and besides, I'm tired. I'm gonna go check out the bedrooms and catch some z's" Shifty said, standing up and stretching.

"Bad day? It's a disaster!" Lifty said, throwing his hands in the air. "Shifty, most of the town is dead out there to never come back and we could easily be next. THIS isn't just going to be all fine and dandy tomorrow morning."

The older twin faced Lifty "I'm trying to make this seem less horrifying ok? I know what's going on, the world's in hell, but I just want to imagine it to be just another day... for my sanity's sake..."

Lifty sighed and folded his arms, turning away "I know... I want it to be another day too..."

Shifty held his hand out to his twin. "See? Come on, I said we'll get through this together and I meant it."

Lifty smiled and put his hand to his brother's shaking it. "C'mon, I'm tired. Let's just try and get through this one day at a time," Shifty said.

Lifty nodded "Yeah I'm tired too..."

"The beds are down that way," Shifty said as he walked down the hall with Lifty in tow.


	4. Great Power Comes Great Irresponsibilty

**Hello readers and readeresses, time for the chapter that I planned on doing no matter what and I'm honestly very happy with the results. Those who know me well might have likely guess who this character is going to be, those who don't probably at least narrowed it down to two characters based on the title of this chapter. Unless anyone here's canon blind, in which case… let's just start the story.**

"Why is the ceiling so low?" He reached his hands up trying to see if it's really as close as it seemed and was quickly met with the rough material of his ceiling. "That doesn't make any sense, it was the normal height when I went to- Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Splendid looked down only to find that he wasn't laying on anything but air.

He was freaking out. Everything was normal the other day. He looked to his hands, almost expecting answers to be there. "I... I don't get it! What the heck is going on?!" he cried, trying not to fall.

He flailed quite a bit and was sent for a literal spin in mid-air but quickly found from doing so that he was not going to fall which made things make even less sense. "How is this even possible?!"

The blue squirrel looked out the window, seeing a car swerve and crash into traffic lights, sending the tree friend flying out the windshield. He grimaced and tried to figure out a way to get down, thinking about just falling down onto his bed when suddenly... Poof! He landed with a soft noise onto his bed, unharmed.

"Woah, that... that was really weird, but I gotta get to work. Lumpy's gonna fry my bacon if I'm not there on time" he said, grabbing his hat, tie and briefcase and rushing out the door.

Right before he headed out though, he heard a scream which, seemed to be directly into him ear but when he turned to see who the fuck would even do that, he saw that he was completely alone. "I really am going insane."

He hurried to catch the bus, standing there for a good few minutes before realizing that the bus was late. He sighed. Maybe it wasn't even coming that day. He turned down the path and began to walk, humming a tune.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks thinking of the levitation scare that morning and wondered: can he? Should he try?

He willed himself up, feeling the air under his feet. He opened his eyes, feeling a wave of unease wash over him. He eased forward, floating through the air over the path. Truth be told, he thought it was amazing. He felt giddy for the first time in a while, feeling the wind on his face. He liked this new feeling. Then he heard laughter and chatting, seeing two Tree Friends walk up the path.

"Oh no..." he mumbled, trying to land. He did, though unharmed, with a thump. They looked over, confused, but shook it off and kept walking. He breathed a sigh of relief. That was too close.

Something told him that whatever was going on should be kept a secret. Though, he couldn't ignore how amazing that felt and he had to find a way to be able to do it again and still keep it a secret… he also needed to figure out how to land without all this crashing business. Though, he did note that doing so didn't seem to hurt.

He started making his way to work on foot again but on the way, he passed by a comic book store. Despite being in a hurry, he paused taking a look inside at the different superhero memorabilia.

* * *

Comics covered the many shelves, action figures in mint condition stood on shelves in heroic poses, and even a few Tree Friends looked around excitedly. He had no idea why he'd stopped to look, but shrugged. Lumpy wouldn't notice if he spent a few minutes looking around inside. He never really noticed anything not about himself. He pushed the door open and the smell of paper hit him.

A few Tree Friends looked over, shrugged, and then went back to their routine of looking around.

Splendid walked down the aisle looking over the different comics before picking up a Superman comic book and raised an eyebrow flipping through the pages with a sense of interest and curiosity until he heard another crash almost deafeningly loud and spun around to see that an army jeep had crashed through the store. Once he got over the shock, he looked down at his comic book stated simply, "Well, we could really use someone like him right now."

The driver of the car, a bloodied green bear donning a camouflage jacket and green cap, stumbled from his seat onto the ground. He spat blood onto the concrete and looked up, his eyes a startling shade of gold. He grinned, showcasing his sharpened teeth, grabbing his bowie knife from his jacket pocket. Splendid shuddered and dropped the comic book, looking at it on the ground.

They needed a hero now more than ever. He thought back to his floating experience... what did it mean? Was he... a hero? Whatever he was, he was in the line of fire of the shelf Fliqpy had thrown. He had to move FAST and that turned out to be exactly what happened, in fact he moved impossibly fast.

He spotted a red costume mask as a piece of merchandise, quickly taking off his hat, tie, and glasses (noticing that doing so no longer effected his vision) and put on the red mask. _'Guess I'll have to find out what else I can do as I go,'_ Splendid thought and flew up over the shelf, ready to face the monster terrorizing the store. Well... he obviously wasn't but he had deemed himself ready enough to try.

He shot toward Fliqpy, fists forward, knocking him to the ground and leaving a long crater from impact. By now the customers had ran from the chaos and taken shelter. The green bear's back was a bloody red pulp, groaning in pain as Splendid picked him up and threw him down. Blood covered the pavement as the veteran took his last breath, making the squirrel realize what he had done.

He had, none the less, killed someone. Yet... it didn't feel wrong. He was doing good right? He looked to the store, smashed in and sidewalk bloody. "Well... I think I'd better get to work-" Then he heard the most bloodcurdling scream ever, echoing from across town, yet it sounded right beside him. He had to check it out.

He flew out of the comic store, somehow missing the giant hole Flippy made in the wall and instead made a new one of his own and set off in search of whoever was making that bloodcurdling scream.

* * *

The local laboratory was set ablaze, making Splendid roll his eyes. He had bumped into the local scientist a few times, mostly interviews for his 'groundbreaking' achievements and experiments. He smashed through the wall. He saw the blue anteater in the corner of the room, burnt in places where the fire had touched him.

He saw Splendid and begun to mumble, "A-am I hallucinating? Maybe the chemicals I used are hallucinogenic when mixed with water..."

Splendid shook his head and tried to do his best "superhero" voice... which isn't even remotely close to what a superhero should sound like being more goofy than anything. "Not at all, Citizen. I'm Splendid and I'm here to save you!" Once he said it, he realized with a mental curse that he probably shouldn't have used his real name but it was too late to take it back now.

Having almost seemed to forget his situation, Sniffles face lite right up at that and exclaimed, though in a very raspy voice. "I can't believe it! A real life superhero!"

The squirrel shrugged and decided to go with it "Yes, now Citizen. I'm going to get you out of here!" he said, Sniffles nodding speedily. Splendid thought, coming up with an idea.

He took in a long breath, and blew out with all his might, freezing the fire. He was beginning to enjoy his new powers when he saw that Sniffles had also frozen. He face palmed. "Nice going, Splendid."

He zoomed towards the anteater and tried to pull the frozen Tree Friend from the rest of the ice, instead yanking his torso clean off.

Splendid screamed dropping the torso. This was not like back in the Comic Store. That was a monster, one life to save many, but the scientist... as stupid and annoying as he was... was innocent and now he was dead because of his "hero" work. Repeatedly mumbling, "Useless," he but back on his hat, tie, and glasses, forgetting that he had the mask on, and walked out of the lab finally returning to work. _'You're no hero, you just made it worse,'_ he thought as he walked.

* * *

He pushed the doors open and took the elevator up to his cubical, seeing few Tree Friends actually there. Usually Cuddles showed up for his part-time typing job, but he wasn't there. "Truant," Splendid muttered as he sat down at his desk, the familiar typewriter still there. He went to type but realized he hadn't actually got a story to write, but remembered his day and began to word it in the perspective of a bystander. He doubted anyone would be alive by the time it was published, but those who were couldn't know his secret.

Though not without struggle, he tried to ignore the screams that continued to assault his ears, he went the type the story in a way that didn't make him seem like the "hero" but the first key he hit immediately broke. He quickly looked around, hoping none of the few others in the room had noticed, they hadn't, but that didn't change that he broke an important key on his typewriter. "God, you really can't do anything right, now, can you?" he mumbled to himself.

He turned and looked out the window, seeing the town he called home go to heck. _'What is happening?'_ he asked himself, trying to figure out how to fix the broken key on the typewriter. Then it (metaphorically) hit him. Where was Lumpy? Though the moose never really cared about the workers, only about getting the story out and raking in the cash for himself, it seemed odd that he wasn't there.

He looked out the window wondering if the tyrant might be dead somewhere out there. He had to admit that his feelings were a bit mixed on the idea. He never did like Lumpy but could he really wish him dead? Not really.

Another scream rang out and Splendid let out a growl, pressing his paws against his ears. He just needed to focus on the problem right in front of him and pulled out some glue hoping it might be able to fix his key and then he could try writing the story a bit softer. "Can't give up after my first screw up."

As soon as those words left his mouth, it hit him, looking back out the window. "Well, I can only get better, right?" he breathed, and suddenly got out of his seat, heading out of the building. He may have messed it up once but SOMEONE needs to be the hero.

He made sure nobody else was looking, then he made his way as fast as he could to the elevator, panicking that one of his coworkers would notice him. When he turned to look though, it was a different story. Everyone seemed frozen in place, not blinking, moving, and the sound of the type writers was silent. He was confused. "Why is everyone... so still?"

He stopped for a second in confusion but once he did, everything had returned to normal... well, not normal obviously but they were moving again and the typewriter clicks returned. He shook his head to clear it, realizing that everyone had started to move again.

He had to get back to his seat or they'd know something was up. He darted for his seat just as a Tree Friend peered over the cubicle at him in scrutiny before getting back to their work. He breathed a sigh of relief, wiping sweat from his forehead "That was too close, but... maybe I can make it out this time."

He waited until no one was looking and tried again, once again, everything seemed to freeze. Looking around just to make sure, he moved to the elevator and pressed the button. But then he realized something; if time had stopped, so had the elevator.

He grumbled and simply shot out of the window, removing his hat and tie, flying down to the streets. Everything was still as, even more so, chaotic than when he left. "What did this town do to deserve this?" he asked himself. His mouth set in a frown. He didn't know the answer but he was determined to save whoever there was left.

Listening intently, he picked up on screaming on the other side of town. Zooming there, he found a beach and on the waves there was a houseboat burning up, the source of the screams.

Splendid stopped, the building was one thing but could he go into that kind of fire without dying? He didn't know the answer, nor did he know if it was worth the risk. Everything that day had been flipped upside down, and the squirrel wasn't sure exactly what risk was. Everything meant risk now, from simply opening a door to even taking a step.

He sucked in a breath, puffing out his chest. He had to be brave now, for whoever was in that houseboat had little time left judging by the screams. The Superman theme song arose in his mind, and he found himself humming it. "Time to be a hero,"

He flew out to the boat, flying directly through the flames though doing so obviously did not hurt him. He didn't think much about that at the time though searching for whoever was screaming and found a triple-amputee, blue otter wearing pirate garb. Russell was still screaming but just barely.

Realizing he had no time to waste, Splendid picked Russell up and flew right back out the way he came. Unfortunately though, Russell isn't fireproof.

"Fear not, citizen, for I have... Ah!" Splendid yelped upon seeing the charred, black remains of the pirate. He dropped the body in shock, wiping the ash from his hands. He gritted his teeth "Oh come on, just ONE Tree Friend! Just let one survive!" he shouted to nobody in particular, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

He let out a slight growl but closed his eyes whispering. "You can do it, Splendid. Just be the hero. You can't get any worse at this right? I just need to keep trying." Just then, a building across town collapsed. _'Time to shine,'_ he thought, humming a song before flying towards the collapsed building.

* * *

He came to the wreckage, wincing at the sight of the sparse blood and injury. Though the lack of screaming told him there were no survivors, movement caught the corner of his eye and through it, he quickly found someone alive and moving, though trapped, a purple deer with face make-up and a striped shirt, silently struggling to get out from under large debris.

The deer looked up and spotted Splendid waving him over for help. He recognized the deer as Mime; he saw him most days on his way to work performing on the street corner. He took a deep breath and flew over, overturning the large slab of concrete, taking the deer in his arms.

Though his thankyou was silent, Splendid still felt good. He'd saved someone. He'd done it. He'd become a hero. "Are you injured, Citizen?" Splendid asked, setting Mime down.

Mime shook his head and dusted himself off, smiling widely. Splendid was glad he had saved at least one life. Maybe it was his duty to save tree friends, just maybe. He saluted and hummed a theme song, shooting off into the sky.

Splendid stopped in midair, having a full view of what's left of the town. He was right back in the comic book store, this town needs a hero now more than ever and as long as there's anyone left to save and disaster plagues the once peaceful town, he had to be there to protect them, no matter how many tries it might take to get it right. Looking up at the sky, he said to himself, once again, "I can only get better."

 **You can just keep telling yourself that Splendid. Now, the only main character left unused is Cro-Marmot (well, and Lammy and Mr. Pickels but they will have their chapter much later in the story) who for the life of us, we could not figure out anywhere to put him so I will confirm that this is the last chapter for the first day. Next we will move on to the second day which… is not much of an improvement. Anyways, please review and a detailed explanation of what I did right and wrong would be greatly appreciated. Flames are welcome.**


	5. I'mmortal

**Zombie apocalypse time! This chapter was very interesting to write and I hope you have as much fun reading it as we did writing it. The chapter is named after an alternative title to my favorite movie. It's not a typo, it's a combination of "immortal" and "I'm mortal". It will become clear why as you read. So, start the story!**

The next morning, Flaky sent a glare to her alarm clock. She didn't have to wake up, she'd been awake all night crying as evidenced by her eyes which were as red as her fur. What's the point in even getting up? Cuddles was dead. Giggles was dead. Toothy was dead. By the sounds of it, most of the town was dead.

Then she realized that her alarm clock wasn't set. The ringing was the telephone.

She rubbed her eyes. The phone couldn't be ringing... who was there to call her? After all, everyone was dead... right? Flaky got up and grabbed the phone warily, gulping. Maybe someone had survived, as unlikely as it seemed. She found her voice and cleared her throat "H-hello?"

"Flaky! Thank god you're ok!" a familiar voice said, making her withhold a scream of terror and confusion. It was Cuddles but it didn't make any sense. It was literally impossible. Cuddles is dead! She saw his body; he had no pulse. "Flaky, are you still there?" Cuddles' voice asked again. "Are you alright?"

Flaky shook her head to herself and finally came to the only logical explanation. "Yeah, I just had… a really crazy nightmare last night." Yeah, a nightmare. That must be it.

"Nightmare?" Cuddles asked "Funny, I had one too... but what happened in yours?"

She thought back, but found herself not wanting to. "I... y-you... T-Toothy... Giggles..." she stammered, trying not to cry. But if Cuddles was alive... maybe the rest of her friends were too.

The line was silent for a few seconds but thankfully, Flaky could still pick up on his breathing through the receiver. "It felt so real," Flaky admitted, just barely loud enough to be heard as she looked down at her feet. "I thought you were dead." More silence. "Cuddles, please, say something."

"I-I..." Cuddles' paused trying to collect himself. "Maybe we shouldn't be talking about this on the phone. Just stay there and I'll come right over, okay, Flaky?"

Flaky wasn't sure what to think of her best friend's reaction but the idea definitely appealed to her. Maybe if she saw him in person, safe and sound, she could put this whole nightmare scare behind her. After all, it had to have been a nightmare, it was the only explanation. "Yeah, that sounds good, I'll see you soon."

"See you soon, Flaky," Cuddles' voice came hollowly before hanging up.

Flaky let out a breath returning the phone to the cradle, feeling much better than she had before the phone call. However, there was still one thing gnawing at the back of her head, demanding her attention but she couldn't figure out what it was. Suddenly, she returned to her bedroom and took a good look around the room listening intently for a familiar noise that was eerily absent.

If it was all a nightmare, where was Cheep?

Her little chick, where was he? She began to search, but couldn't find him. It was strange; Cheep never usually left her bedroom. Then she thought back to her nightmare, about how she saw what the pets could do and... and threw Cheep out the window. Flaky raced to the window and looked out, looking for her chick, but found nothing.

That was, until her eyes fell on a small yellow and red mangled mess on the road. "Cheep!" Flaky screamed, staring out the window with wide eyes. It can't be. Yesterday was just a nightmare so how could this be staring back at her? It didn't make any sense. None of it made any sense.

She sat back on her bed, hugging her knees. This couldn't be happening. She'd seen death in her nightmare, and saw the bloody mess of what appeared to be Cheep. She remembered throwing him out the window in a fit of fear, seeing him get run over... and seeing his bloody mess the next morning told her that somehow, her nightmare was more real than she thought.

No matter how much her brain told her it was stupid, she made her way back to the telephone and started to dial Giggles' number but there was a knock at her door before she could finish dialing. For a second, she forgot that Cuddles was coming over.

* * *

She ran to the door, cautious not to trip over anything, not that anything was on the floor. She paused before opening it. What if this was just another nightmare? She shook the thought off and brought herself to open the door, seeing her yellow rabbit friend there. He was smiling until he noticed the worry on her face. "Flaky... is something wrong?"

Frankly she had no idea. "Um... come inside, there's something I need to show you." Cuddles frowned, and entered trying to figure out what she could have to show him that would have his normally so calm friend this worked up.

"Cuddles, at the end of my nightmare, I threw Cheep out the window where he wound up ran over by a car." Flaky explained, leading him into her bedroom. "This morning, after our call, I looked for Cheep and couldn't find him anywhere..." She gulped, walking over to the window and motioning out. "Until, I looked out the window."

Cuddles followed her gesture and saw the bloody, mangled mess she insinuated was Cheep. He froze. That couldn't be Cheep, could it? Nobody normally died in their town, not without great notice but... Cheep was dead.

"I-is that..." he began, shaky.

Flaky nodded "Yes. It's Cheep." Flaky swallowed a lump in her throat, forcing her voice to sound strong and steady, which was surprisingly successful. "That's the same exact spot he died in my nightmare."

"Th-that doesn't make any sense," Cuddles stuttered, still looking at the window. "How does that even happen?"

"I don't know" Flaky said, voice still strong. "But... but he's gone..."

Cuddles sighed sadly "It reminds me of what happened to my mouse..."

The porcupine looked to her friend "What? What happened?" she asked.

"After he scratched me, a few times... he ran outside and... and a bird got him. I thought it was a nightmare, but... but..."

"But what?"

"But I woke up with a dead mouse on my pillow..."

Flaky paled almost looking more pink than red. Not just at the presence of the dead mouse but drawing the connection to her own nightmare. "At the beginning of my nightmare, I came to your house and your arm was bandaged up from your mouse scratching it up." She gulped, shaking her head. "No, this has to be just... a long string of coincidences."

Cuddles wasn't buying it. It was a lot to just happen by chance but the alternative was hard to imagine to be possible. Fearfully, Cuddles asked, "What happened after that?"

Both were fearful. "W-we went to Giggles' house a-and she was... was..." Flaky couldn't bring herself to say the word, but Cuddles knew exactly what she meant to say.

Pale faced and grim, he raised a hand. "Stop... I... I know... but this can't have happened..."

The porcupine wanted desperately to believe her friend, but deep down, she knew this was all too real.

There were a few second of tense silence before Cuddles suddenly said with a sense of urgency, "We need to call Giggles, Toothy, too." Cuddles held the speaker to his ear, hearing the phone ring. He hoped with all his being that his girlfriend had not died.

"Hello? This is-"

"GIGGLES!" Cuddles cried, cutting the chipmunk off "I'm so glad you're ok!"

There was kind of an awkward though more confused giggle on the other end. "Well, yeah, of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

Cuddles chuckled feeling relieved. "Well um... I had a nightmare last night; I just needed to hear your voice."

There was brief silence before Giggles spoke again "Nightmare? Did it involve... death... by any chance?" Silence reigned. "It's just…" Giggles started awkwardly. "I had a nightmare, too. In it Mittens suddenly went crazy and started mauling me to death."

There were a few more seconds as Cuddles looked deep in thought. Flaky was surprised and confused when a huge genuine-looking smile suddenly crossed her friend's face. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that but I'm just really glad that you're okay!"

While the rabbit gushed on and on about Giggles being ok, Flaky paused her pacing to look out the window. Everything, besides the red mangled Cheep, seemed perfectly normal. No fallen trees or buildings on fire.

 _'It almost looks like everything has... reset,'_ Flaky thought, feeling a chill go down her spine. _'Does that mean today is going to be the same?'_ She wondered looking out the window and her question was answered when a tree fell killing several generics. Flaky screamed.

Cuddles looked at her quizzically and Flaky just pointed out the window. "I have to go, Giggles, but I'll talk to you later. Everything's going to be okay. Love you, Giggles." Cuddles said over the phone before turning to Flaky with a laugh. "Don't you get it, Flaky? Don't you see what this means?"

Flaky was shocked by the question and his attitude overall. "What this means is that people are dying and being reset! This is terrible!"

Cuddles laughed and shook his head. "No it's not. What this means is that we're basically immortal!"

The porcupine didn't like the look in her friend's eye, it was too... crazy. She shivered "N-no, it means we're going to die over and over and-" Cuddles immediately picked up the phone again, dialing a number. "Who are you calling?" Flaky asked nervously.

The rabbit looked to Flaky with a grin. "Toothy has got know about this!"

"Cuddles, you can't possibly think this is a good thing!" Flaky said, trying to talk some sense into her currently insane friend.

He laughed "Of course it is! We don't need to be so scared of death anymore! We're just going to come back again! Isn't that cool?"

Flaky paled "No it isn't! I don't w-want to d-die!" she said, feeling lightheaded, imagining the life ahead of her. Die, be reborn, die again, be reborn again... forever.

"Hello?" she heard Toothy say from the receiver at Cuddles' ear. She had to warn everyone. This was no nightmare.

"Toothy! You'll never believe this! You had a nightmare last night, right?!"

"Well… yeah..." Toothy hesitated confused. "How did you know that?"

"It wasn't a nightmare! Flaky and I have proof! But now we're back to life! Isn't that so cool? I always wanted to be immortal."

Flaky gulped, feeling sick to her stomach. Both Cuddles' enthusiasm and the sense of death floating around made her queasy. But before she could do anything, she felt Cuddles grab her arm and run to the door with her stumbling to keep standing. "What are you doing? Where are we going?" she screeched, not wanting to go outside into the dismay and death.

He grinned "I wanna test a few things out now that we're immortal. Like that skateboard ramp you told me not to try or else I'd die."

Now, Flaky was terrified. "Cuddles, you can't be serious! Have you gone insane?!" Flaky asked trying to fight against his grip. "Don't you see that it's even more likely to kill you now?!"

Cuddles stopped turning to her still grinning madly. "No, think about it, Flaky. If we come back to life, is it really dying?"

"Yes! Of course it is!" the porcupine screamed. Cuddles had made it down the road, dragging the stumbling Flaky with him, to the skate-park.

* * *

She saw the huge skate-ramp even from where they stood, and she felt a wave of dread wash over her. She wished with all her might that he couldn't really want this... but he did.

"No it isn't, Flaky. Death, by definition, is permanent, it's the end of your life. Which is why everyone fears it and grieves it for other people but if it's so temporary, which it is in our case now, what's there to be afraid of? Missing a few hours? Like I keep saying, we're basically immortal now! How could you not think that's cool?"

"I don't want to die!" she screamed "I want to live a good life then die happy!"

Cuddles sighed. "Flaky, look, dying's not that bad, I just did it yesterday and I'm perfectly okay now."

Flaky felt her eyes prickle with tears. "Don't do this," she said quietly "don't do this to yourself."

He let go of her arm "Listen Flaky, I'll be fine... tomorrow! You don't have to try it, but let me at least!" The rabbit went to run to the ramp but remembered that he'd forgotten his skateboard "Oh crap... I'll be right back!"

Cuddles ran back home to get his skateboard leaving Flaky petrified in her place staring at the skate ramp that her now clearly insane best friend was about to go on… voluntarily!

Her eyes closed trying to will this to be another nightmare. They were doomed to die then come back to life over and over again for the rest of eternity. And the pain! She hadn't experienced it herself yet but it all looked and sounded extremely painful. What if all the deaths for the rest of time were physical torture until it finally ends… for the day.

Cuddles couldn't possibly see this as a good thing. It was a true, living nightmare.

"I'm back!" Cuddles said, running up beside her with just his skateboard. No helmet, safety pads or anything else. Somehow Flaky knew he was going to do this.

"Cuddles, where's your helmet? A-and the knee guards?" she asked, twiddling her thumbs, fearful of the answer.

He shrugged. "It's not like I'm going to need them. I'm immortal!" he fist pumped.

"Please don't do this to yourself," Flaky begged taking his wrist and looking him right in the eye. "You might come back to life but it will hurt like nothing else until then. You're so fragile now, who knows what could happen? Yesterday, you broke your leg from stomping your foot!"

Cuddles had a look of indifference on his face, but he still had a tiny bit of worry evident "So? It was yesterday, and I'm fine now! Look, just watch. You'll see, I'll walk away without a scratch!"

Flaky shook her head "No, no you won't Cuddles. I don't know if it's just me... but somehow I doubt any of us is going to walk away from anything..." she said, sounding less like her normal cheery self by the moment.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Cuddles stupidly asked.

In response, Flaky started to list surprisingly well, "You could be skinned, disemboweled, your limbs ripped off, impaled on that poll over there..."

Cuddles paled, gulping, but he shook it off. "As if I'm going to let that stop me."

He ran to the stairs of the ramp, climbing up and preparing to skate down it. Flaky felt tears well in her eyes "No! Don't!" but it was too late; he had already kicked off and was skating down it at a high speed.

Flaky screamed louder than should be humanly possible when a skateboard wheel landed by her feet, followed by another one. 'He's _only on two wheels!'_ Flaky's thoughts yelled as she just kept screaming though she was soon interrupted by someone else's screams, this time, clearly of pain. Well, he's clearly not only on two wheels anymore.

"CUDDLES!" she screeched, running over to see his mangled body, a skin and blood trail from the ramp following him.

He was barely alive, clinging onto the last remnants he had left "F-Flaky..."

She couldn't speak, or move or do anything other than stare in horror. Her heart thudded in her chest. Then, with one final breath and whimper of agony... Cuddles stopped moving. He was dead.

"It's my fault. I should have tried harder to spot him. I should have…" before Flaky had anymore time to go about blaming herself for Cuddles' death, Cuddles' now two wheeled skateboard came obediently following it's rider cutting past Flaky, literally. A now bare and razor sharp axil ripped right through her abdomen, hooking onto her small intestine and taking it along on the skateboard's path.

 **I probably would have dragged that on more if it was ANY other character. Also, note that in less than three weeks, Sacredheart will be gone for six weeks. We will try to have the next chapter by then but if that doesn't happen, we're sorry. Next chapter will focus on a character that was cheated out of the first day so mull over who didn't appear in any of the first four chapters and isn't Cro-Marmot or Lammy/Mr. Pickels and you'll find your answer. Until then, please review and I greatly appreciate constructive criticism if you have any.**


	6. The Truent Tyrant

**Hello! This took crazy long. Sorry about that. My co-author became very inactive and I ended up having to drop her and take over the story on my own. This was not an easy decision and many people told me that I should have dropped her way sooner but I kept giving her chances because I can be stupid sometimes and give people more chances than they deserve but I'm tired of giving her chances and if you're reading this Sacredheart, I'm sorry for this but it's what had to be done. I hope you understand and everyone else, I hope you're happy with the story. Keep in mind that about half of this chapter was still co-authored so I cannot take full credit for this chapter. All future chapters will be mine and mine alone though.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends or any of the characters. All rights go to Mondo Media.**

He couldn't believe it. This was so embarrassing. Crushed to death by his own pet only minutes into the morning. At least it was only a nightmare, or so he assumed, but he woke up steaming. What a fool he had looked like. He settled down some though looking out at his currently peaceful town. That's right, his town and pathetic nightmare, or not, nothing was going to take that away from him.

 _'Might as well go out,'_ the moose thought, pushing open his trailer door and stepping outside. _'Even the gods must work.'_

What a stupid nightmare. After all, it had seemed so unbelievably real... but he was alive now. If it had have been real, how could he have survived?

Lumpy shook his head, trying to dispel any thoughts of the nightmare. He needed to focus on his duties and, like every day, there was a lot of security footage that needed to be sorted through before everything opens. You can call him lazy all you want but it is not easy running an entire town.

He headed over to the hospital first, something telling him that this was important and was shocked to find that there was forty-eight hours of raw footage instead of twenty-four even though he had just sorted through the footage yesterday morning. Had he forgotten to collect this footage? Though it felt unlikely, it seemed to be the only explanation.

* * *

However, as he went through his rounds, everywhere else had the same and he knew for sure he didn't skip collecting the footage all together. "Now, this is strange... how come everywhere I go there's 48 hours instead of 24? Hmm... oh wait, the diner..."

The final stop before returning home to process the footage was the Happy Tree Diner, of course he owned it. He pretty much owned the town, and he wasn't afraid of letting Tree Friends know it.

Of course, the diner had 48 hours as well. It was as if Lumpy had somehow completely missed yesterday. That didn't make any sense, he could lose a lot of money by not doing so, he'd have to be dead to not collect any of the footage at all.

At that though, despite forbiddance he thought back to his nightmare. No, that was impossible. People, or moose, don't just come back to life after dying. "It was just a nightmare," the moose told himself sternly, shaking his head and returning home to analyze the footage.

Getting home, he decided it made most sense to check the newest 24 hours first... and something within him still kept telling him to check the hospital first. _'Why the hospital?'_ he wondered to himself. _'Almost nothing ever happens there.'_

Putting the video tape into the player, he watched the screen. It was morning in the hospital, everything peaceful so far, even Petunia had shown up early for work and was manning the front desk. After a few seemingly harmless phone calls, and one that seemed to make the skunk look peeved, she went to shut the window. Now, she seemed to almost glow with importance.

Lumpy wondered "Why does it look like-" then he jumped back as a purple car smashed through the wall, just missing Petunia. Through the video, he could just barely make out Mole's dead body inside the car and it of course only got worse from there as the events of Achile's Heal went through.

* * *

"Dear god," the moose murmured, turning off the screen. If what had happened at the hospital was any sign of what the other tapes held, he couldn't bear to watch any more than he already had. He had to get some fresh air.

When he headed back outside his trailer, though the town was still relatively in one peice, words could not describe when he spotted Petunia a ways off, alive and well, despite having seen her die in the video.

He couldn't deny it anymore, yesterday was no nightmare. Someone or something was killing the members of the town and somehow bringing them back to life and whatever this is, has more power than him, and that did not bode well with the tyrant.

Pacing back and forth, an idea popped into Lumpy's mind. An interesting idea. "I'll just have to pull a few strings, blackmail a few Tree Friends, and everything will be back in my favor" he grinned, stroking his chin. "Lumpy, you are a genius."

He thought back to his initial reaction to yesterday and realized an advantage he most likely has over the majority of the town: they probably think yesterday was a nightmare, too.

Picking up a tape, it was placed in the small machine plugged up to all the monitors and with the press of a button it began to play. "This is the footage from the comic book store, something has got to have happened there" the moose said, hoping he was onto something. His intuition had never failed him before. Patrons walked in and out of the store, nothing too bad happening... but... an air of interest came about when a certain blue flying squirrel entered the store. "Why him? And who is that?" Lumpy pondered.

After what he saw at the hospital, he wasn't all that surprised by the attack but what of course really got him was when that flying squirrel literally flew over the shelves and, despite the name, he obviously knew that was far from normal. Possibly even weirder than the apparent reset button.

"I feel as... as if I know him," Lumpy thought, eyes following the blue flying squirrel's movements to stop the suddenly crazed bear, but eventually he shot out of the store and disappeared. His fist slammed onto the desk "There has to be more, more evidence...more blackmail..." he said.

The moose sighed, resting his chin on the palms of his hands, thinking. Just what had happened to Happy Tree Town? Tree Friends had died and come back, accidents like falling buildings and car crashes had just vanished as if it was all just some twisted magic trick, but magic was far out of the question. He'd seen a worker beaver come in with vanishing hands, and it seemed magic was not the cause and it wasn't all physical either, he remembered that one squirrel that went candy crazy, and he did mean crazy by every sense of the word.

There had to be some strange force at hand here, but what? It clearly was powerful, and while upsetting Lumpy's control, as it was causing the town to be plunged into havoc.

Realizing that he wasn't going to be able to figure this out on his own, Lumpy headed back out of his trailer to find the first previously dead tree friend he could find. He knew he had to be careful about it though, if they think yesterday was a nightmare, he had to make sure to keep it that way.

There was a flicker of movement out the corner of his eye, turning and seeing a familiar pink chipmunk walking down the path talking to herself. She seemed unnerved and she obviously looked it, her little conversation not far from being a panic attack. _'A good start,'_ Lumpy thought, approaching her with an almost knowing gait, a grin on his face.

"What's going on with you?" He asked, actually catching her attention. "You seem awfully stressed."

"Oh," she said "I-I had a really surreal nightmare last night... I woke up in my bed in a cold sweat. M-my cat had... k-killed me... but I'm glad it was just a nightmare."

Lumpy hid his grin. Of course this one didn't know it was real, and he had her right where he wanted her. "Yeah, that's good, otherwise you wouldn't be able to work for me anymore." Lumpy said, flawlessly covering up why he would care. "Anything else weird happen though?"

Giggles hesitated whether or not to tell him but saw no harm. "Well, a few minutes ago I got this… really weird call from Cuddles."

Lumpy raised a brow "How so?"

"Well... he was glad that I was alive for some reason, that and I heard Flaky screaming in the background... which she normally doesn't do for no reason... I'm kind of worried though, I hope she's ok..." Giggles said, twiddling her thumbs worriedly.

Now that did get Lumpy suspicious. He recognized the name and she was one of the calmest tree friends in town, she wouldn't have just screamed like that unless, _'Unless she know's it wasn't a nightmare.'_ He realizes. "Did he say anything else?"

"No, nothing else. Why?"

Lumpy turned. "It's not important. I'll expect you at work?"

Giggles sighed clearly not liking it but answered, "Yes, Sir, I was just on my way there."

"Well, then get going!" Lumpy ordered as if he wasn't the one who stopped her.

She nodded and continued on her way, Lumpy thinking. If his suspicions were correct, that Flaky girl might know something. He nodded to himself "I need to find her, she could know more than what's good for her." He began to walk, trying to figure out where she lived.

He stopped, turning and stopping Giggles "What?"

"Where might Flaky live?" he asked her.

"Flaky? On Pine Way, 3178, just a few blocks down from here."

Lumpy nodded, repeating the information again and again to himself as he walked off down the path. Giggles called after him "Oh um... goodbye!" she said, waving. Even to a figure as distant and cold as Lumpy, the chipmunk remained her kind self.

"Pine way... 3178..." Lumpy muttered, not having noticed Giggles' goodbye.

Giggles went back on her way to work getting even more worried for Flaky, between the scream and now Lumpy apperently seeking her out for reasons she didn't know but she knew they couldn't be pure.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lumpy found Flaky's house just as Cuddles was dragging her out of it. "NO! You can't make me go out! Not after yesterday!" the porcupine protested, grabbing onto the front door frame tightly, not wanting to let go.

Cuddles struggled to pull her away "Nnng! Flaky! Let go! Come on! Nothing serious can happen! We're immortal remember?" he said, grunting from the effort to pull his surprisingly strong friend away from her door.

Though even before it, there was little room for denial, at the word 'immortal' Lumpy couldn't deny the truth that they both knew it was no nightmare. He didn't know how they knew but they did.

"I don't care if we're immortal! I don't want to die!" Flaky screamed in protest, clawing at the ground as the rabbit dragged her along to who knows what. Lumpy thought, and he wondered who else knew this little 'secret'.

He decided to move on in search for any more. So he went searching for anyone else that's alive. Which still at least seemed to be most of the town and he needed to get through this study before that changed.

After a while of walking, he came across Sniffles who was much more chipper than he could have expected anyone, even one who thinks yesterday was a nightmare could be. Then again, nothing about Sniffles ever made sense.

He didn't bother trying to come up with too clever of lies since Sniffles is too stupid to tell the difference. "Why are you so perky?" Lumpy asked, coming over to him.

"Oh! I just had a spectacular dream last night!" Sniffles beamed certainly surprising and also scaring Lumpy as to how anyone could consider yesterday a _good_ dream. "In it, my lab had caught on fire which was bad in itself but then a real life superhero named Splendid came in to save me! I mean, I still died but it was so cool!"

Lumpy immediately remembered the tape he saw from the comic book store and even though he hadn't seen that specific "rescue", he could tell that the experience was obviously real and that made him wonder how many other friends Splendid had saved. Actually, now that Sniffles brought up his name up, Lumpy realized why he looked so familiar. "You are a weird one, Sniffles. Splendid is just a reporter for the Daily Acorn."

"So that's where I've seen him before! He interviewed me a few times about my brilliant inventions!" Sniffles shrugged walking on. "Oh well, it was just a dream. I need to get to my lab now. Maybe I can invent something that gets another interview and then I can tell Splendid all about my dream!"

Lumpy was about to stop him. After all, if Sniffles talks to him about his "dream" and they realize that they had the same one they could figure out that it wasn't a dream at all, in fact, he figured that was probably how Cuddles and Flaky found out but he couldn't stop him as Sniffles had already ran off.

However, he could still stop him as Splendid's boss by making sure that he never interviews him again, at least, for as long as he can manage to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. He wasn't sure how long that will be but he was going to try for as long as possible.

Yes, that is exactly what he'd have to do. There was still the chance for him to come up on top and there was no way he was giving that up. He had far too much to lose if this failed.

Lumpy strode back to his trailer feeling very confident about his plan. He already fought his way to the top once and he will do it over and over again if that's what he has to do. After all, he knew almost everything there is to know about the curse and no one else but Cuddles and Flaky knew anything about it not even that it existed. That meant he had a head start and you can do a lot with a head start.

Having some more time before he actually had to get to work, he went back to watching the videos from yesterday to find more ways to blackmail the Tree Friends into submission.

A while into looking, Lumpy came across the video for the apartment building and was more distressed than he would have expected to be to find that two raccoons had bought an apartment yesterday.

He recognized the two raccoons as Lifty and Shifty; they had quit working for him a while ago so he took everything away from them. Since then, he had arrested them many times for pick-pocketing but they never did anything worse than that. This left the question as to how they were able to afford an apartment at all.

That wasn't what was worrying him. As long as they somehow turn up rent every month, he supposed he could let them stay there but the real problem is that if they wake up in an apartment that they didn't have before the "nightmare", there would be no way to doubt that the events of yesterday must have really happened.

He decided to pull out a pad of paper and record down everyone who might know that yesterday was real. First he recorded down himself, Cuddles, Flaky, Lifty and Shifty but found that there was more to the list. When Handy wakes up with no hands, he'd have to figure it out. Same thing applies for Splendid waking up with superpowers.

There was also anyone those on the list might tell but he hoped like hell that would be it.

This did complicate things a bit but he still knew he could do it. After all, he was by far the smartest friend in Happy Tree Town so he didn't need a head start to come up on top. He didn't have one when he came to power the first time.

No, he will blackmail every single friend in Happy Tree Town and keep his spot on top. If they thought he was a tyrant before, they ain't seen nothing yet.

 **So, yeah, Lumpy in Head Canon is VERY different than most people write him. In a brief summary (though you can pretty much figure it out on your own), Lumpy is a genius, he owns and runs everything in town, he is a tyrant, he uses the other characters as slaves. Am I clear? Good. PM me if I'm not. I can write you a novel about it. XD Anyways, please review and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.**


	7. Zombie or Not Zombie

**And here's the first chapter that was entirely mine. This chapter also contains a little shoutout to another piece of mine on a different site. I doubt anyone will catch it but it is there.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends or any of the characters. All rights go to Mondo Media.**

Lifty and Shifty "woke up" at about the same time the next morning with a clinging of hopelessness similar to the way Flaky woke up. The apartment they awoke in proving that, as much as they wanted it to be a dream. Yesterday was very, very real. They wanted it to be a nightmare more than anything even though that would mean waking up starving on the streets instead of in a warm apartment with food in the fridge.

Lifty buried his face into the carpet floor, not wanting to face whatever reality this day has to give them. "Is the storm over yet?" he asked Shifty, using the metaphor Shifty used with him last night. He just couldn't take the idea of another day like yesterday. "I mean, who could really be left anyways? I'm still shocked we survived."

Shifty looked over at him, sitting up from the floor, and rubbing the back of his head as he put his hat back on. He searched for something, anything; he could tell his twin to cheer him up and went for the simplest option. "Well, it might be over." He knew he sounded ridiculous but it was the best he could think of and it would have to do. "I mean, we can't be the only friends left in town."

"Why not?" Lifty asked, turning his head to look over at him. "Happy Tree was always a super tiny town anyways. How many disasters would it take to wipe out a nearly non-existent population?"

Shifty sighed, looking Lifty in the face but kept his expression soft and his voice calm. "I'm just trying to bring in a bit of optimism, cheer you up a bit because I hate seeing you this way. Besides, we made it out alive so some other friends might have, too. It's not completely hopeless."

Lifty sighed but got into a seating position as well. "I guess there might have been other survivors." He finally caved but still didn't seem too cheerful about the situation. "If not, then we should still do our best to stay alive ourselves." Lifty glanced over to the window in their bedroom and immediately froze at what he saw. There was just no way to explain it. "Aw, what the hell?"

Shifty was afraid to see what could cause so much shock after everything they saw yesterday but followed his brother's gaze anyways, expecting the worst but what he saw was even more shocking than he expected and that was… nothing. Okay, not literally nothing but none of the disasters or anything else that they had the pleasure of witnessing yesterday. If they hadn't woken up in that apartment, they might have considered that yesterday was a terrible nightmare. "I don't understand…" Lifty breathed in disbelief. "How is this even possible?"

"Maybe the incident with the fire escape and the murder room scared us too much and caused us to hallucinate all the disasters on the way to the grocery store?" Shifty suggested, not seeing any other explanation. "I've heard of that happening. Let's not jump to any rash conclusions."

"I guess that could be possible…" Lifty said but with serious hesitation. It seemed like a lot for even a paranoid mind to just make up. Yet, it was the only explanation either of them could think of for such disasters to be repaired literally overnight and he thought of a way to test it. "Maybe we should go check out that alleyway where the fire exit fell. I mean, if that theory is true, then the fire exit should still be lying broken on the ground."

Shifty nodded agreeing with the idea and needing some confirmation for the idea himself to gain some semblance of sanity in this situation because at the moment there wasn't any at all. "Yes, let's go check and see that the fire exit is right where we last saw it." He took Lifty's hand and his twin nodded as they headed out of the apartment.

The thought crossed their mind to eat something for breakfast before leaving but they were so use to having next-to-no food to eat that they both easily decided it was best to save what they had, at least until dinner.

Once they were out of their apartment, they both froze when they heard a voice. "Yes, Antsy, I understand you and your brother are upset but I'll be right over as soon as I can…" There were a few seconds of silence, clearly when Antsy was talking. "Alright, I'll make sure to bring it… Okay, see you soon, Antsy."

They didn't recognize the voice and the words, as you can tell, were less than interesting but what was catching their attention was where the voice was coming from. "The murder room…" Lifty whispered his fear and confusion spiking right back up. The owner was definitely dead.

"Maybe someone moved in…" Shifty suggested.

However, before either could say anything else, the door to the murder room opened revealing the same friend they saw die in the video. "Zombie!" Lifty shouted in fear and picked up a nearby coatrack, stabbing her through the head.

Shifty only stared in shock for a while, unable to believe what his twin just did but eventually recovered and face-palmed, saying, "See, this is exactly what I meant by jumping to any rash conclusions. That could have been someone who just moved there… and happened to look a lot like the woman in the video." Shifty wasn't sure what to think of that theory himself. "Look, let's just go check the alley and find out what's going on."

Lifty nodded but did not let go of the coatrack. "Alright, let's go."

Shifty looked at the rack it his hands. "You're not really bringing that with you to use as a weapon, are you?"

Lifty looked at the coatrack in his hands, then back at Shifty, the answer to his question seeming very obvious to him. "If there are more zombies out there, I need some way to defend myself from them," Lifty explained, holding the rack close to him, clearly not planning on letting it go.

Shifty just stared at him for a few seconds, resisting the urge to laugh but only sighed and agreed, "Okay, you can take the coatrack with you for self-defense." After all, he figured that he wasn't going to convince Lifty otherwise and they weren't going to come across any other "zombies" on the way.

Lifty nodded with a smile as they headed to the elevator. "Of course I won't use it for anything else. You know I've never been a violent raccoon," he promised, punching the number for the ground floor and attempting to clean the blood off the rack but only succeeding in getting it on his paw.

"I know you're not but that's what friends are going to think if they see you walking around with a bloody coatrack or with blood all over your paws," Shifty pointed out, getting annoyed by this.

Lifty seemed to consider that for a while then, finally when the door opened at the ground floor. "I understand that but I'd rather have friends think I'm violent than let my brain be eaten by zombies. Besides, most friends aren't even alive after yesterday."

Shifty looked down as well, not liking to continue thinking about the chaos they witnessed yesterday. He said he just wanted to pretend yesterday was just an ordinary day and he meant it. Not that he was doing any good at pretending anyways. "Can you please not bring that up…?"

"Sorry, it's just…" Lifty was at a bit a loss of what to say. "I mean, we can't just pretend it never happened." Lifty sighed as they headed out of the apartment and towards the alley. "Think we have enough money to get a car or something?"

Shifty wasn't sure. They had plenty of money left from that wallet they lifted but he had no idea how much a car would cost and knew it couldn't be cheap but walking everywhere was boring for the both of them. "We'll check."

Lifty's face lit up at the idea. "Great! I wonder what kind of car we'll get! Maybe a…" Just then, a powerline fell killing several friends. "What the heck?!"

Shifty's paw went to his mouth. "It isn't over…" he trailed, looking over the disaster, about to say the biggest thing he feared. "Yesterday was only the beginning."

It was their biggest fear, that the disasters would continue after that one terrible day but now there it was right in front of them. "How much longer would it last? I mean, they have to run out of victims at some point."

Even though they were preoccupied with their thoughts, they kept walking to the alleyway. "I suppose they must," Shifty agreed but couldn't stop thinking about the "zombie". He still refused to believe in zombies but he also refused to believe in the string of coincidences he dreamed up.

They reached the alleyway without coming across any other zombies or disasters. Once they got there, they found the previously fallen fire escape in perfect shape and secured exactly in place.

"This is impossible," Lifty gushed in disbelief. "There's no way anyone could have fixed it so soon, even if it was the only thing that needed to be fixed." Lifty lowered the coatrack so that the end was touching the ground. "This all makes no sense."

"I know. I… I don't have any explanation," Shifty answered honestly. The only explanation seemed to be literal magic but, just like zombies, Shifty refused to believe in any kind of magic but it was getting harder and harder to explain away without it.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the zombie we saw…?" Lifty asked, running his paws against the coat hanger. "I mean, they fit together well. Any disasters are repaired and any deaths are resurrected. It's like a total reset."

"That's crazy," Shifty said as almost a reflex, looking away from Lifty, clearly deep in thought. "But… I don't have anything saner to say about it…" he admitted, refusing to look up at the fire escape and they both stood away from it, in case it fell again.

"Exactly." Lifty sighed, realizing this might go on forever, literally. "If I'm right, that means it'll never run out of victims. This may never end."

Shifty clutched his ears with both of his paws. "No! No, I don't want to hear about that! I refuse to believe it and I don't want you thinking about it either!"

"I'm sorry but it's possible and I'm worried," Lifty admitted, setting the coatrack on the ground. "If anyone who did die is coming back to life, then there will always be more victims so why would it ever stop?"

"Because nothing lasts forever." Shifty tried to sound confident, even though he's really trying to convince himself that this hell will be over eventually. He couldn't stand the idea of nothing ever being normal again. Sure, they were barely surviving but he liked normal.

Lifty wasn't sure about that either way anyways but he wanted more than anything for what Shifty said to be true, even more than he wanted his mansion. He'd give everything for it to be true but something just told him it wasn't. "Well, this might be the thing that does." Lifty sighed and suggested. "How about we just head to the car dealership?"

* * *

They had no idea where the car dealership was or what they were really looking for so it was almost noon when they finally found it. When they came into the lot, Lumpy came out, clearly working there that day, a "luck" that they cursed. Lumpy frowned seeing the two of them. "Oh, if it isn't my favorite kleptomaniacs."

"We're not kleptomaniacs," Shifty boldly corrected, folding his arms over his chest. "We only ever steal what we need to survive and it's your fault that theft is our only option to do that."

Lumpy just shook his head. "That was your own fault; you could have been like everyone else in this town if you just cooperated instead of refusing to work for me."

Shifty just growled deep in his throat but just shook his head and said, "I'm not having this argument with you." He knew it was an argument he would never win and he didn't want to be arrested. Yes, that could get him arrested in Happy Tree. "Could you just sell us a car?"

"Sure I can," Lumpy said, his mood changing instantly in almost a supernatural way. "As long as you two somehow worked up some way to pay for it like you did for that apartment yesterday." The twins weren't surprised he knew about that. "There is something I wanted to talk to you guy about though."

"If you want us to start working for you again, that's not going to happen," Lifty cut in, sure of that. "We're not your slaves."

"No, you already ruined your chances for that," Lumpy said, letting out his usual hiccupping laugh that annoyed the twins. "I want to talk to you two about what happened yesterday; I know you know."

"We don't know anything about what happened yesterday," Lifty corrected, unsure why he was asking them specifically about it, unless he was asking everyone about it. "Everything went to hell and we have no idea why."

"You know things went to hell though," Lumpy corrected and Lifty and Shifty looked at each other, wondering how anyone could have managed to miss that fact. "Most of the friends don't know that. They think yesterday was all a dream but you can't deny it, waking up in a strange apartment."

"Well, yes, we know that yesterday we know that yesterday was obviously no dream," Lifty confirmed, looking up at Lumpy, not feeling intimidated by him, despite him being twice their size. "So, what do you want us to do about it?" He had no intention of doing whatever it was that he wanted.

Lumpy laughed again for reasons that were difficult to understand. "Oh, it's a simple request. Just keep your mouths shut about it."

Shifty's eyes narrowed at that. "You expect us to keep quiet about something this important?" It didn't surprise them. Lumpy is incredibly selfish and clearly had some big ulterior motive for doing it but it did anger them. "No way! The friends need to know and we already lost everything, what else could you take away from us?"

Lumpy pretended to think about it. "Well, let's see, I could have you evicted from the apartment you just got, I could take away any money you guys lifted since then, and if all else fails, I can have you both arrested forever or until you die permanently if that ever does happen." Lumpy liked that. He'd have to use that when others find out about the curse.

Lifty and Shifty looked at each other shocked but also not shocked at all. This was classic Lumpy and they should have known better than to ask. The question is if letting the town know of the dangers was worth that kind of risk. The answer was surprisingly obvious. "Fine, we won't tell anyone."

Before Lumpy could say anything in response to them giving in to his authority, one of the parked cars started to roll, which wouldn't be too bad if it didn't hit a rusted sign that fell just the right way to smash them into a bloody pulp.

 **Ah the first of many Lifty and Shifty deaths. Please review!**


	8. Gotta Hand it To You

**This was a surprisingly hard chapter to write but I started writing this chapter with this character and I was detirmened to finished it with him so here we go, for your reading pleasure.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends or any of the characters. All rights go to Mondo Media.**

He hoped like anything that yesterday was only a dream but he knew it couldn't have been. Otherwise it was far too big of a coincidence to be logical. Not that there was anything logical about it in the first place. He was glad he survived the day and didn't really care about those who died. He just wanted his hands back. He couldn't do anything without them.

Well, he had to try. He sat up from his bed and tried to figure out how on earth he was going to make himself breakfast, much less a living. No, he can worry about that later. Breakfast first. He went to leave the room only to scowl. Wrong, getting through the door first.

He remembered how hard dialing the hospital yesterday was but this was flat out ridiculous. He never imagined he'd ever have trouble opening a basic door that he never even had to think about before yesterday. Now it was a good while of fiddling with the handle with his nubs until it finally opened.

Okay, that was one step down, now he just needed to figure out breakfast and every meal after it and that he had no idea how to begin.

And there was no way he was going to ask his roommate, Mole, for help, he wasn't going to ask anyone for help. His pride couldn't take it. It sounded stupid but, without his hands, his pride was all he had and he wasn't about to lose that too.

After a while of looking and thinking, he decided he was too hungry to go through all that, He'll figure out how to make his own food later but for now, he was going to head to the diner for breakfast. That didn't count as asking for help, did it?

* * *

He, somehow, managed to drive to the diner and get in. He took a seat up at the counter. He was shocked beyond all belief to find Petunia working there and, as she gave him his menu, she was met with a bit of a surprise as well. "Oh, you lost your hands." Despite the surprise, she did sound sympathetic. Handy just nodded, trying to open the menu. "Weird, you didn't have any hands in the nightmare I had either."

Handy didn't say anything, only focusing on her existence as he pretended to focus on the menu, choosing to tell her nothing. _'I saw you die.'_

Petunia noticed his struggle and flipped his menu open for him. This earned a scowl from Handy. "Don't you find that weird, Handy? Handy!" She realized he wasn't paying attention.

Handy jumped a bit, looking back up at the girl who, last time he saw her, was decapitated by a ceiling fan. Yet, here she was, with her head and soul still attached. _'Are you an angel or a ghost?'_ he thought to himself before answering, "Yeah, that's a weird coincidence but I lost them yesterday morning. Maybe you kind of saw me but only your subconscious noticed." If she thought yesterday was a dream, he wasn't about to correct her.

"I suppose that's possible, I have heard about that happening sometimes. Besides, they probably didn't just disappear overnight like they did in my dream." She laughed but hesitated and said, "I normally don't remember anything about my dreams but I remember everything about this one. I wish I didn't though; it was so terrible."

"Well, just be glad it was only a nightmare," Handy told the ghost, wishing he thought that.

"I am glad for that," Petunia affirmed, starting to get worried that she'll get in trouble with Lumpy for not taking his order. "Seeing all those friends die and then dying myself. I couldn't imagine it." She tapped her pen on the counter nervously, clearly not enjoying the conversation.

Handy didn't like the conversation either so he finally decided to order. "I'll have an egg and bacon plate and a cup of coffee."

Petunia wrote down the order, seeming relieved to be out of this conversation and being able to work instead of getting in trouble with Lumpy for not working. "Alright, I'll have that right up." She went and got the raw eggs and bacon from the cooler and freezer, got a bit of ice on the floor and immediately cleaning it up before washing her paws.

Handy watched her do this and remembered the way she was looking at the disinfectant. He also just noticed something hanging from her neck, a car air freshener. There was something different about her, not Nutty different but different more than just her death. "I give up. What are you?"

Petunia looked over at him with a raised eyebrow, not understanding his question at all. "Um… I'm a skunk," she answered in the only explanation she could think of and whipped her tail back and forth. "See my tail?"

"No, you're not!" Handy shouted, making Petunia jump back a step, looking at him, even more confused and a bit scared. "Skunks don't come back to life after they die!" Handy jumped up on the stool, ready to run as fast as he can but instead, he just pointed an accusatory nub at her, demanding an answer to a question she didn't know. "I ask again, what are you?"

"Have you lost your mind, Handy?" Petunia asked but couldn't help but think about her death in her nightmare. No, she told him she died in her nightmare; he's clearly just messing with her. "This isn't funny, Handy. I didn't die in real life, just in my nightmare."

"No! You died in real life! I saw you! You went to answer the phone at the hospital and were decapitated by the ceiling fan! I knew because I was there when my hands disappeared. And Nutty, he became addicted to candy! You have to believe me!"

Petunia's eyes widened at that, thinking back to the exact details he gave, details she knows she didn't give him and started to seriously panic. "How do you know all of that stuff?"

"Because I was there!" Handy threw all his worries of preserving her thoughts that it was all a nightmare right out the window. He could not take this anticipation. "Yesterday was no nightmare! I really did mysteriously lose my hands overnight; Nutty really did go completely insane for candy; and you, Nutty, and many others did die! So what are you?! An angel?! A ghost?! A zombiiee?!" Handy fell off the stool and tried to grab the counter to save himself but lacked the tools to do so.

Petunia panicked and vaulted over the counter, catching him before he hit the ground. "Handy! Are you okay?" She temporarily put aside what he had just said.

Handy shook of the shock and told her. "Yeah, I'm okay." When she stood him up on the floor, he thought about how she caught him, something that was pretty impressive on its own. "You're an angel," he said, earning a weird look. "A zombie can't move that fast and if you were a ghost, I would have fallen right through you."

Petunia put her hands up in defense, opening and closing her mouth a few times before settling for, "Look, Handy, I have no idea what's going on and I believe you now that yesterday wasn't a nightmare but I'm sure I'm not an angel… So… what am I? How is this even possible?"

"Well, I obviously have no idea…" Handy told her, trying to rack his brain for any kind of explanation when the door suddenly opened and in jittered, yes, I said jittered, another surprise. "… Nutty…"

"How is this possible?" Petunia whispered. "He was definitely dead the last time we saw him."

"I remember. It was really gross." Handy thought over this, between Petunia and now Nutty. "Is this heaven?" He couldn't think of any other explanation but, looking down at his pathetic little nubs, he added, "Or hell?"

All off the sudden, Nutty caught on fire, despite there being nothing obvious around to start the fire and it was rapidly growing, making its way towards the pair. "Definitely hell," Petunia said, her eyes wide as she guided him out of the diner and they ran for who knows how long.

* * *

"Wait, stop!" Handy said after a while of running and she listened, both of them catching their breath before he asked, "Where exactly are we running to?"

She didn't have an answer to that and, thinking back to the previous day, how calls were coming in from as far as they would come into that hospital, there was no answer to that question. There was nowhere safe for them to run, especially if that really is hell. "I don't know, just away from the fire." She hesitated for a few beats and then added. "And to whatever disaster awaits us there."

"Exactly, the only thing running is going to do is make us tired." Handy sighed. Not liking the idea of running not being an option either. "We need to find another way to stay alive." Petunia's lip wobbled, tears starting to form in her eyes. Handy frowned at this. "Aw, come on, no need to cry. We'll find some way."

Despite the reassurance, Petunia let the tears fall as she said in a tone of pure hopelessness. "I don't see how. Anything can go wrong at any second and we can't be prepared for anything."

"I know we can't but we can still react to what does come for us and maybe avoid it," even as he said it, Handy wasn't so sure himself but he, for some reason, felt the need to try to cheer her up. "Look, I know things seem hopeless but I, for one, am not going to just roll over and die. If I'm going down, I'm going down fighting."

Petunia wiped her eyes and looked up at the determined look in Handy's and took on one of her own. "You're right, Handy. We can't give up now."

He was being a hypocrite after yesterday and he knew it but he needed her to keep fighting or he was going to lose it as well. Then he remembered what she was doing before Nutty caught on fire and regretfully reminded. "Aren't you supposed to be working though?"

"Screw the diner!" Petunia suddenly shouted. "We're already dead and the place has probably burned down by now! What could Lumpy do to me if I don't go back that's worse than what's already going on?!"

"Well, I guess you have a point then," Handy said, having no way to argue with her logic. Besides, he had no way to force her to go to work, even if he wanted to, so it was her own decision.

Without warning, Petunia hugged Handy. "Thank you, Handy. I'm sure we can get through this if we just work together."

Handy just stood there confused, not attempting to return the hug she was giving him. He wasn't planning on working with her on this but she was so much of a help yesterday with him losing his hands, even with so much other stuff to do, that he just couldn't say no. "Yes, we'll make it through this together." He hesitated before asking. "So… what do we do? I'm not too keen on the idea of just standing around here, waiting to die."

"Yeah, I don't like that idea either," Petunia agreed, looking around. "Maybe we can check up on some of the other friends? Maybe warn them if they think yesterday was a nightmare. Flaky called into the hospital right before I died and she wasn't sounding too good, we could check on her."

Handy didn't really know Flaky that well or care how she was doing but agreed, "Well, it sounds as good an idea as any. I don't know where her house is though so lead the way." Petunia nodded and led the way.

* * *

When they got there, they found the door partially open and claw marks on the door frame and in the ground. They both froze staring in horror of what could have caused this. Handy was obviously the first to recover, finding his voice and simply saying, "Well, she's obviously not home."

Petunia nodded and they thought about following the marks but didn't in fear of what they might find on the other end. "I doubt she's even alive looking at this."

"Okay, so I'm not the only one seeing this," they heard from behind them and turned around to see Toothy who was staring at the claw marks. "I think Cuddles might have had something to do with this. He called me this morning, went on about how yesterday wasn't a nightmare and he's immortal now." Toothy took a deep breath and shook his head with a shudder. "I believe it wasn't a nightmare but he seemed… dangerous. I checked his house first but he wasn't there and he mentioned Flaky on the phone so I came here."

"Dangerous how?" Handy asked, not sure what to make of what they were being told. "It seems that everything's dangerous now."

"Well, yes it is but this was different. Didn't seem like himself at all. It's like death and injures didn't matter to him and he wouldn't listen to reason… then he just hung up without warning. I tried calling both his and Flaky's phones but there was no answer," Toothy explained, it almost seeming unreal. "He went completely insane and Flaky was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She was always mentally strong. Hopefully enough for whatever Cuddles has planned."

"He went completely insane," Petunia repeated, tossing the idea around in her head. "Just like Nutty, except for adrenaline instead of sugar."

"Wait, Nutty's gone nutty?" Toothy finally looked away from the claw marks and at them. "That is not good. Who knows what it did to anyone else then…" He stopped noticing Handy's new feature and thinking about the connection with Nutty's name and now his. "Handy… what happened to your hands?"

They didn't notice, but a flock of birds was gathering in a tree that loomed above them and if they did notice, they wouldn't have given them much thought.

Even though he knew it was the last kind of answer Toothy wanted, Handy gave him the truth with a shrug. "They were just gone when I woke up yesterday. It was like they were never there at all."

"Disappearing limbs, too? What is happening here?" Just then, the shock became too much for Toothy and he fainted, hitting the tree, which knocked the branches the birds were on from the tree.

The birds obviously flew away but the branches came raining down, fatally impaling all three friends.


End file.
